


Tony Stark is on the Struggle Bus

by Justaseck



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark Friendship, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Young Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-23 21:01:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16626371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justaseck/pseuds/Justaseck
Summary: Tony Stark is in college, struggling to be more than what his father says he is. And just general college kid struggles. Then Natasha Romanoff comes along to shake things up.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I've decided to give this a shot. This story does not follow the Marvel universe timeline or plot. The characters are mostly college aged. Who knows how this story will go. I want it to mainly focus on Tony and I love fictions that involve the Tony/Nat friendship so it will probably meander in that direction. But first, Rhodey! There will be more added once I figure out a direction to go in. 
> 
> Feel free to leave reviews and comments! I would really appreciate it! :)

The sound of a distant alarm ringing was what roused a rumpled Tony Stark from a stack of scattered parts. His desk was covered with wires and bolts and circuitry. _Mmph. Need coffee._ was the first thought that made it through the sleep induced haze. The second was removing the disassembled pieces that were stuck to his face after falling asleep on top of them. "Jarvis? What the hell is that ringing?"  
“That, sir, would be the doorbell,” came the dry reply. “Unto which has been ringing for the past ten minutes.”

"What is the point of having an AI if he doesn't answer the door?" mumbled Tony as he walked into his closet. 

“Maybe the fact that I have no corporal body prevents me from doing such things.” 

"Such sassiness. I know that wasn't in the original code."  
“Yes, can't imagine where one would pick it up around here.” Tony could practically hear the eye roll. He came walking out of the closet wearing a clean t-shirt and faded jeans. The doorbell was still ringing. _Well they are nothing if not persistent_ , he thought. 

Tony had an apartment just off the MIT campus. It made it pretty convenient to get to class, but allowed him his own space and privacy. Normally he was found working on his projects and codes. 

He ran a hand through his hair, frowning as it came back with flecks of black grease. Nothing he had time to fix before going to yell at whoever was at the door. Walking down the hall he hummed the chorus of an ACDC song that was stuck in his head. Opening the for with an exasperated "What." He saw a young man standing at the door holding what looked like the remains of a broken Wii console. 

"Finally! I was beginning to think no one was home. Are you Tony?” He asked. The guy was taller than Tony, and dressed casually in jeans and a faded Air Force t-shirt. 

"Who are you?" Tony asked. “And yes, I'm Tony.”

“The name's James Rhodes. I heard this place was where to go if you ever needed technological help but I'm not sure I've got the right place.” He took in Tony's disheveled appearance. "You're a little young.”

Tony snorted. "I suppose you've come to the right place if you're wanting to save that frankly repulsive thing in your hands that they call an excuse of a gaming console. And I'm plenty old enough, thank you very much.” He glanced down at the console he was holding. “What did it do to deserve such treatment?” he drawled, leaning against the door frame. 

James shuffled his feet, a look of embarrassment coming over his face. “I, uh, lost a very important Mario Kart game and it didn’t end well for the Wii.”

“Clearly.” Tony drawled, eyebrows raised. Sighing, he pushed himself off the doorframe. “Alright. Let’s see the damage done. Come on in.” He turned and walked down the hallway, pausing at the kitchen. “Coffee?” Tony asked.

“No thanks.” Came the reply. 

“So. James Rhodes. I can’t call you that. I have a thing with nicknames. Gonna have to come up with something for you.” Tony turned to face James, mug in hand. He snapped his fingers. “Got it! Rhodey-bear it is.” Clearly missing the flabbergasted face he got in response to that statement, Tony waltzed out of the kitchen to his workshop area. 

“You can’t call me that!”

“Would you prefer Platypus? Or Jamesy-Wamesy? Because I think I could make those work as well.” Tony started stacking the miscellaneous engine parts to one side of his desk, shooting a mischievous grin over to Rhodey. 

“I can deal with Rhodey if those are my other options.” He said, still looking like he had been thrown for a loop. 

“Great. Now gimme.” He made a grabby motion with his hands. As soon as he had the Wii in his possession he began humming and muttering to himself. Rhodes could overhear his commentary of “Poor baby, you didn’t deserve such treatment from Rhodey, now did you? Not to worry, I’ll fix you right up and make you better.”

Rhodey decided not to comment on that. Glancing around, he could see the random chaos that was Tony’s space. Beyond the parts strewn about everywhere he could see several coffee cups and tools lined around the room. A giant speaker stood in the corner next to a stack of records. He could tell Tony was right at home among all of it. He watched as Tony cracked open the casing of the console. Screwdriver in hand, he began removing parts. 

Rhodey had heard about Tony from another student on campus who stated that Tony had fixed his phone for him in 30 seconds like it wasn’t anything at all. Now that he put the name to the face in front of him, he recognized the fact that he had seen him around campus before, usually with a hoodie and headphones in. 

“Sooo. What’s someone your age doing at MIT? You get bored with high school?” Rhodey asked with a curious look.

Tony laughed. “Yeah, something like that. I’m Tony Stark. It kinda runs in the family.” He studiously didn’t look up from the console that was now completely disassembled.

Rhodey’s mind went blank. Howard Stark’s son was standing in front of him. Everyone knew the infamous head of Stark Industries. “Wow. Didn’t know I was knocking on Tony Stark’s door. I would’ve dressed a little nicer and brought flowers.” He joked.

Tony’s head shot up with an incredulous snort. Which turned into stunned laughter as he realized Rhodey wasn’t going to make a big deal out of his parentage. _This was turning out better than expected._ Tony thought. “I’m glad you didn’t. Would have made me feel improper dressed the way that I am.”

“Can’t have that. So can you fix it?” He indicated towards the console. 

“Of course.” Tony scoffed. “Although if you give me a little bit I can vastly improve the framework and system of how..” “That’s okay.” Rhodey interrupted. “I just need it functional again. No need to waste anymore time than necessary.”

“Fine. Be that way. But you and I are having an epic Mario Kart tournament after I fix it.”

And that was how one James Rhodes met Tony Stark.


	2. Mean Glares and Red Hair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got my first Kudos today!! It's such a great feeling. I know everyone says it, but feel free to leave a comment, review, kudos, etc. I haven't really figured out everything on here so I'm learning as I go. I decided to update even though I have no idea where this story is going (literally no idea) and because I am procrastinating all things school related. 
> 
> This chapter we will get to see a glimpse of Natasha, which was my intent for the first chapter, but then Rhodey ended up showing up at the door.

Tony shuffled across campus, one hand shoved deep into his jeans that were somehow not yet stained with oil and grease and the other clutching a cup of coffee. The hood of his hoodie was up and he had headphones in. Running on little sleep and even less desire to go to his Gen Ed History of Art class, he has barely managed to make it out the door on time. 

He was sooo not looking forward to this class. He may have even slipped a little something stronger in his coffee to get him through the class. This type of class was, well, pointless to him. If it wasn't science or math related he could care less. He thrived in those types of classes. 

Howard had always pushed him in that area of intellect. Of course, that was the only time he really paid any sort of attention to him. He fully expected Tony to be the perfect son, barking at him if he did anything out of line. Howard was truly an inspiration when it came to paving the way for technological advances.

But when it came to being a father, he pretty much went with the ignore or yell method. Though he fully expected Tony to be the boy wonder and then some. Tony had graduated from high school with ease. And now, although he was still young compared to the other students here at MIT, he was enjoying the challenge of a few of his classes. And was definitely enjoying being away from Howard. He did miss Jarvis, their family butler, who after Tony was born became the father figure Howard could never be. But his artificial intelligence named in his honor was keeping Tony on track. 

_For the most part_ , Tony thought. He pulled open the door to the two-story building. With 3 minutes to spare, he slipped into the back of the lecture hall. It was ridiculously full but that was to be expected for a Gen Ed, he mused to himself. Not bothering to push down the hood of his hoodie or remove the headphones, he chose a seat way in the back. 

He immediately got out his laptop, the one that he had custom built and was two full upgrades ahead of the design he had given Howard for Stark Industries, thank you very much, and began pulling up designs for his latest idea. It was a robotic arm that an AI was to be incorporated into. After a night of drinking, he had tinkered around with the idea and preliminary designs were drafted. He squinted at his drunken notes, that were now illegible of all meaning. 

The class was now starting, with the professor droning on about priceless works of art and who dared to dream of such works of art. Rolling his eyes, Tony glanced about the room. Everyone was miraculously still awake. To his left, he caught the flash of red hair being tucked behind an ear of a girl taking notes. She seemed absorbed in the presentation the professor was giving, nodding along every once in awhile before writing something else down in her notebook. What was even more intriguing was the phone sitting next to her notebook. It was sleek with a silver trim, nothing like any of the models he had seen before except in the newly released… 

He sat up straight, squinting at the phone. Was that the newly released Stark model? Full production and sales to the public on those weren’t supposed to be done for another two weeks. The professor’s lecture was now completely forgotten as Tony studied the girl. Pulling out his own model of the new Stark phone that he had received from his father after giving several design improvements to be implemented, he began pulling up a screenful of code. 

He knew the design inside and out, and could hack into pretty much anything at this point. Focusing on getting in through a backdoor in the code, he gave a small smile when he found exactly what he was looking for. He took a gulp of his coffee while glancing at the girl. From out of the corner of his eye, he could see her seemingly enraptured with the lecture. 

Tony knew that the class was ending soon. He tapped a few more keys on the phone, scrolled to the bottom of code, debating on what to type. In the end he decided to send: “ _All these classes and you chose this one? Science is waaay better. This one makes me want to fall asleep._ ” 

He could see when her screen lit up with the text. He had hacked into the communications module of the phone, allowing him to send the message. She glanced at the phone, then looking startled, re-read the text. She looked around the room with what seemed like confusion, but with a hint of fear as her gaze swept across the rows of students. Most were reading the Powerpoint slides. A couple students had fallen asleep. And many more were on their phone, making it difficult to determine where the text came from. 

He quickly sent another text, “ _Don’t freak out, Red. I mean no harm. I’m just seriously so boooorrrreddd. This class is dumb.”_

The vibration from her phone grabbed her attention. A scowl was directed at the phone and he could see her typing a response: “ _Who is this?? And how did you get this number?!”_

She once again started looking around the room. When her gaze met Tony’s smirking face, she skipped past it before doing a double take. Her eyes narrowed and boy if looks could kill… She pointed at the phone and then at him. “You?” she mouthed. 

Tony was saved from answering what seemed like a possibly life ending question by the girl’s reaction when the professor said time was up for their class. A ruckus of desks folding and zipped backpacks was the only distinguishable sound that could be heard. Tony filed out with the rest of the students and pushed the door open, breathing in the fresh outside air. He made it about fifty yards from the building when a hard shove came from behind, knocking him off balance. 


	3. Conversational Spite and Being Contrite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super short chapter because I don't know what I'm doing. 
> 
> If you have any feedback or comments, please, for the love of all things shawarma, leave it in the comment section. Or kudos! Kudos are amazing. Because it literally makes my day when I see a Kudos on here. 
> 
> Sorry for the short chapter and I'm not super happy with how it turned out. Hopefully I'll figure out where I'm headed with this but most likely I won't. Here's to hoping.

He turned around, bracing himself for another hit. He found himself face to face with a murderous glare, framed by red hair. Intense green eyes held him in place.

“Who the hell do you think you are?! A sharp finger jabbed into his chest. "How’d you get my number? No one’s supposed to be able to get into this model of phone, they’re supposed to be the most secure phones! And if you don’t explain yourself right now, or so help me I’ll string you up by your ankles and make you beg for death.” 

Stunned by the verbal onslaught with a slight accent he couldn't place, Tony gaped at the girl standing in his personal space, fists clenched and very, very angry. A dozen replies flashed through his head, most ensuring imminent death if he were to speak them aloud. 

“Don’t hurt me!" He squeaked, his brain managing to get his mouth working. "I’m rather fond of being alive. Plus I haven’t finished my robot and Jarvis would be lost without me.” He blurted out. “Besides, nothing’s that secure to me, but compared to everything else, yes, they are the most secure devices out there.” 

Something flashed in her eyes. “What do you mean, secure to you?” she demanded.

“I mean, being that I helped design that particular model, I think I can manage to hack into it.”

She took a step back, eyes narrowed. Tony let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. 

“You work for Stark Industries?” she asked, a note of disbelief in her voice.

Tony let out a short bark of laughter. “Something like that, Red.” He held out his hand, the thought crossing his mind of maybe not getting his hand back and her snapping his wrist like a twig. “Tony Stark. I do apologize for hacking into your phone, which by the way isn’t out for sale to the public until two weeks from now, so how’d you get your hands on one?”  
A long, calculating gaze was his only answer for a full minute. She seemed to be having an internal debate. She ended her internal struggle with a small nod. “Natasha.” She reached out to shake the still extended hand. “And it was a gift.” 

_Interesting_ , Tony thought. “Alright, Red. I’ve got science to go do. And robots to build.” He turned and started to walk away.

“Tony.”

Looking back at Natasha he saw her standing there.

“If you ever break into my phone again, you’ll regret it.” And with that she stalked her way back across campus.

A genuine smile grew as he watched her fade into the crowd of students. _She was something else_ , Tony thought, making his way towards his apartment. Definitely the most interesting encounter he’d had in awhile. 

_Maybe History of Art wouldn’t be so bad after all_ , he mused.


	4. Walking Into Trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't think I'd get this chapter finished so soon. It was kind of stubborn but once I got to writing, it was okay. It also doesn't help that I STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING. 
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comment section! And Kudos seriously, really, and truly make my day.

Tony was working on assembling the interchangeable end effector of his robot design. The thrum of music was loud enough to be felt when leaning against the desk. He had been working for a solid 30 hours since it was finally the weekend. He tended to get a little carried away when he got in the zone. His forehead was streaked with an errant smudge of grease, absentmindedly forgotten or perhaps unknowingly left behind. 

He was wrestling with a group of wires that weren't cooperating. Finally getting them wired, he looked around his workshop area for his voltmeter. Which was nowhere to be found. Looking back at his semi-assembled robotic arm, he briefly weighed the pros and cons of just flipping power on and seeing what happened and risking burning everything up or running to a lab on campus that he knew had a voltmeter to check his wiring carefully. 

Deciding it would probably be better to go the safe route and go get the voltmeter, he slipped on a jacket. His decision was probably incentivized by the fact that his eyebrows were just now fully grown back from the last time he skipped safety measures for the sake of speed. Jarvis had poked fun at him for weeks. Making his way to the circuits lab, the campus was fairly quiet. Tony wasn't sure what day it was, but he could tell it was still the weekend with the lack of students around. 

No one was in the lab when he got there. After a few minutes of searching, he gave a triumphant "Aha!" After finding a functional voltmeter. He left a quick note for the lab manager stating that he was borrowing it and was out the door. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he walked down the hallway. It was a couple minutes later that he felt the sneaking suspicion of being watched. Glancing around campus, no one was in sight. Shrugging to himself and blaming it on the multiple hours of sciencing without proper sleep, he carried on walking towards his apartment. A shadow seemed to appear out of nowhere, starling him. It quickly materialized into a familiar face. "Natasha! Geez, you scared the crap out of me. Warn a guy, why dontcha?" 

"Now where's the fun in that," A razor sharp smirk playing across the edges of her lips.  
Tony mumbled something under his breath. 

"So I looked you up after we met. Or after you so rudely stuck your nose where it doesn't belong." She said. Tony inwardly cringed. And this is where it all usually fell apart. Finding out who exactly Tony Stark is made for difficult relationships. 

An indifferent mask settled over his face as he turned to look at Natasha. "Oh? Find all the sordid details?" He asked, raising a brow. 

"Most were tabloid newspaper articles that were just looking for headlines. But there were a few interesting ones in there." 

Tony really hoped she didn't read the article about him streaking across campus. A slight shudder ran through him at the thought. He had lost a bet to Rhodey, who for some reason kept showing up at Tony's place. Sometimes he did nothing but hang out while Tony worked on whatever project he had going on at the moment and other times he dragged Tony out of the lab to "feed and water him" according to his own words.  
It was always still slightly surprising when he kept showing up at his door. Tony had never been one for friends, especially since he was a lot younger than his former classmates. 

He was curious to see how long Rhodey kept showing up. But each time Tony opened the door with a "Rhodey-bear!" And was immediately chatting his ear off about one thing or another. 

But the whole Natasha thing was different. He hadn't quite figured her out yet. She put off a dangerous vibe and could apparently appear out of thin air.  
Turning his thoughts back to the present he replied, "Well you can't believe everything you read." 

He kicked a rock along the sidewalk, well aware Natasha was watching his every move. _Very disconcerting_ , he thought. He felt like prey more than someone out for a nice conversation. Of course he wasn’t out here for nice conversation, he was out here for a voltmeter. And was almost home. When Natasha didn't reply, he met her gaze and asked, "Did you actually need something, Red? Places to be and all that," waving the voltmeter at her. 

Making sure no one else was in the vicinity, she pulled out a slip of paper from her front pocket. "You've already proven yourself to be a decent hacker and good at shoving your nose where it doesn't belong. I need information." Pausing to look around again, she met his gaze once more. "And I think you can get it." 

There were probably a million reasons why he absolutely shouldn't even read what was written on the slip of paper and should skeedaddle back to his lab without a second thought. _But curiosity killed the cat_ , he thought, snagging the piece of paper. An acronym was scrawled in neat handwriting. "S.H.I.E.L.D.? You want me to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D? What a terrible name." But his thoughts were already racing as to how he could infiltrate their system. He loved a good challenge and he had pretty much hacked into every major system there was at one time or another. 

But this was a new one. His fingers itches for a computer to get started and he almost missed the hint of satisfaction on Natasha's face. Like she could read his thoughts and knew he would do it. He threw an irritated scowl in her direction. "I have better things to do than hack into super secret government agencies, you know." She smiled sweetly. "Consider this reparation for hacking into my phone and me not stringing you up." 

She started walking in the direction of his apartment, leaving him no choice but to follow. 

"Hey, that class was insanely boring and I was saving you from dying from boredom. If anything you should be the one thanking me. Why anyone would willingly submit themselves to that class is beyond me." 

She rolled her eyes. "First, you're in that class, so if anyone wants to point fingers about being in lame classes, you should be pointing at yourself. And second, studying history is not boring. Especially in the artistic variety."

Tony grumbled, "I'm only there for my gen ed fulfillment. Trust me, I'd rather be anywhere else." 

He was surprised when they made it to his apartment. He hadn't really been paying attention to his environment, focusing mainly on the red-headed enigma that was now standing by his door. He glanced at Natasha and was debating with himself on whether or not to invite her in but she beat him to it.  
"Let me know what you find out." And with that, she was off, hands in pockets. 

He unlocked his front door and called out, "Jarvis? Start running a compilation of all the students named Natasha. I want to know who I'm dealing with."  
_Of course, sir. Anything else?_  
He made his way back to his work area.  
"What have you find out about Shield?"

He began checking his wires systematically with the voltmeter. Rolling his eyes when he found out they were all wired correctly, _he could've just flipped the power on it and been fine_ , he thought. Setting all of that aside he turned his attention to the computer screen, where Jarvis was listing information out on Shield. "The Strategic Hazard Intervention... good grief, they need an intervention for better naming of their agencies. Alright, J throw it all up on the big screen. It's time to get cracking." 

He began typing in his holographic keyboard. An hour later, he was breaking through their firewalls. "You'd think they would be more secure for a super secret organization." With a few more strokes of the keyboard, he was in. He now had access to files, personnel, and basically whatever else he wanted. He began opening up personnel dossiers. "Agent Phil Coulson, oh man I bet they call themselves Agent too." He laughed as he continued clicking through everything. He paused when he came across a file detailing alien tech being found somewhere in the middle of New Mexico. That's definitely out of the ordinary, he thought. 

He made his way through several more files, each more harder to believe than the previous one. Sighing, he copied all the data to an external hard drive. He had just finished it when his computer emitted a warning chirp. 

Scanning the screen for what was going on, his heart leapt into his throat when he realized his computer was under attack. They were launching a counter hack on his system! Stunned, he didn't realize he had been noticed as he made his way through their system, he reached around the back of the computer and shut off the power to it. 

He was still staring at the black screen when Jarvis stated " _If you're done breaking into things you shouldn't be, I've compiled all of the students with the name of Natasha enrolled._ "  
Tony scoffed, "Never, J, I like to live on the edge. Can't say I saw the counterattack coming but we'll get it sorted out. Any of the Natasha's found have bright red hair and an I can kill you with my pinkie finger grin?"

Jarvis answered, " _While it's extremely difficult to search for those exact parameters, there is one who fits that description._ ”

Tony mumbled something about artificial intelligences getting too sarcastic for their own good as he walked over to the screen. 

He snapped his fingers as he saw the photo being displayed. "That's her! What do we know about her? Other than she's a force to be reckoned with and slightly terrifying." A student ID photo showed the same Natasha that had handed him the Shield slip of paper. " _All that is readily available is that a one Natasha Romanoff is a foreign exchange student studying dual majors of Dance and Criminology, with minors in Art and Foreign Relations._ " 

_That was an odd combination_ , Tony mused. It explained why she was so defensive about being in History of Art, which was a class she was taking by choice, apparently. 

His eyes roamed around the room, lost in thought. "J, is it still the weekend?" Time became irrelevant when he was working. As did sleep. And food. At the reminder of food, his stomach growled.  
" _It is Sunday evening with the time being 5:47, Sir"_  
"Thanks, J. Time for food."  
Walking into his bedroom he grabbed his phone. He sent a message to Natasha, her phone number stored from his hack. 

-6:30 dinner at the corner cafe on campus? I've got info.-

He jumped into the shower without waiting for a reply.


	5. Cafes and Corner Booths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I'd have more time to write over the break but it's not turning out that way. Here's another chapter though! I never really intended this to be heading in the direction it is. I kinda had imagined it to be more college-y focused but it seems to have a mind of its own. 
> 
> As always, kudos and comments are amazingly awesome.

Natasha stared at the text message she received from an unknown number. It was the same number that had so rudely intruded into her History of Art class. Letting out a long breath, she saved the number under Tony Stark, resisting the urge to throw it across the room. 

Her privacy was important to her. And a violation of that privacy was not easily forgiven. And not only had she been hacked, she now had the attention of one Tony Stark, son of a millionaire, and who was in and out of tabloids every other week. That was going to make her life a lot more difficult. The information she had gotten from her quick search had painted a pretty interesting picture. 

But if he actually did have the information from Shield, he was worth something at least. She knew about his intelligence, and his knack for getting into trouble. He had a streak of recklessness in him. Literally, if the article on him streaking across campus in nothing but his birthday suit was anything to go off of.

When she had seen him walking across campus, she had followed him, instinctively sticking to the shadows. He was lost in his own thoughts when he left the circuits lab, voltmeter in hand. 

She had almost laughed at the streak of grease painted across his forehead. He also had circles under his eyes, making his dark brown eyes stand out even more. When she had finally decided to make herself known, she had an even harder time trying not to laugh when he jumped in surprise and she quickly schooled her face into an impassive glare. 

He was one of the few people she had actually learned the name of here on campus. She wasn’t the most social of a person. Most days were spent studying or trying to learn as much information in a variety of divisions. Or working. Knowledge was power in her opinion. The more you gained, the better off you were. And now she was hopefully about to get some more important details filled in from Tony. 

She quickly changed her clothes and headed down the stairs of her old apartment complex. Her bike was leaning against the fence and she removed the bike lock before heading off in the direction of the cafe. 

She arrived ten minutes early and slid into a corner booth. She waited, feeling anxious when her phone read 6:47 and there was still no sign of Tony. At 6:53, she heard the door chime and there he was. He had cleaned himself up. With no streaks of grease or motor oil, he was dressed in faded jeans, a polo and black leather jacket. Aviator style sunglasses hid his eyes as he looked around the cafe. When he found her sitting in the corner, a grin immediately lit up his face and he was soon sliding in next to her in the booth. 

“You’re late.” She said, not returning his smile, which then turned into a leering smirk.

“Some things are worth waiting for, Red.” He caught the waiter’s attention and ordered a soda and a burger with a side of fries. Turning a questioning look to her, he pointed at the menu. “What are you having?” When she hesitated, he grinned and said, “My treat. I’m the one who dragged you here. The least I can do is buy you dinner.” 

She ordered the same thing he was having without the drink, since she had already gotten a glass of water when she first arrived. When the waiter left she turned her attention back to Tony.

“You said you had information? Were you able to hack into Shield?”

He scoffed, “Of course. They should look into some security updates. And seriously, what is up with their name?”

Natasha was speechless for a second. She knew that Tony was brilliant, but he had actually done it. He had hacked into Shield. It had taken him a fraction of the time it would've taken her to manage to even bypass their outer layer of security. And he had done it in the span of a few hours.

The waiter arrived with their food and Tony immediately wolfed down a handful of fries. Staring at him, Natasha wondered when he had last eaten. 

“It turns out,” he said pointing a fry at her, “that Shield is doing some far out things. Things that if the average person were to say them out loud, they would be rounded up and sent off to the loony bin.”He continued munching on his fries. “But they seem to have the proof and evidence to back it up. Alien stuff.” He chuckled to himself before adding, “Literally.” He looked up from his almost cleared plate and stared at her. Pushing the now empty plate away from him, he leaned back and asked, “So what’s your interest in all this, anyway?”

She looked around the cafe much in the same way she had when slipping him the piece of paper on campus. “I first heard about Shield four years ago. I wanted to defect from Russia but had no safe way to do it. Then suddenly, there were these mysterious men from this mysterious organization who offered me a way out.” There was definitely more to that story but Natasha wasn’t about to get into that now. 

Shaking her head she reached for her water and took a sip. “It was a way out and I took it. I was in over my head and made some bad choices when I was with them. But someone had faith in me and now I work for a different organization.”

Tony leaned forward, caught up in the moment. It seemed like they were the only two in the cafe, even though that was not the case.

“Which organization are you working for now?” He asked with a hint of breathlessness. 

She paused. Then looking him straight in the eye she said, “Shield.”


End file.
